PTA raising money to fix foul smell in Richmond school bathroom

RICHMOND, Va. -- Maria Sicurella loves teaching at Mary Munford in Richmond. During school hours, the Spanish teacher also likes to leave her classroom door open.

“I like when people pass by, they can see what we are doing,” said Sicurella.

However lately, she has had to keep the door shut because of a foul odor.

“I love to receive my students at the entrance, and I can’t sometimes,” said Sicurella.

Sicurella said her students will often ask her if she’s is feeling okay. The foul smell is coming from the boys bathroom across the hall.

“In this particular bathroom, there’s been some settling of the foundation which caused cracks in the urinal which creates a problem with the smell of urine because you can’t clean it,” said Principal Greg Muzik.

He said when the urine gets into the cracks, you can’t get it out.

The principal said he understands there will be problems with facilities with a building that is 66 years old. He said work has been done at the school over the years, but a lack of funding is the big issue in fixing the bathroom immediately.

“There’s really never enough money coming from the city for infrastructure needs, so you typically have to make do or find other ways of getting it done,” said Muzik.

The PTA at Mary Munford is now coming together to raise money to renovate the bathrooms this summer.

“The bathrooms on the first floor of Mary Munford are disgusting, and we’ve decided it’s time to fix them and we’re really asking for the community’s support to help us get there,” said PTA President, Rupa Murthy

The PTA’s goal is to raise $25,000 and it will be matched if they can come up with that amount.

“We can’t do this alone as a school system and we can’t do this alone as a PTA,“ said Murthy.

Murthy said the PTA hopes to get involved in other projects for Mary Munford and schools in Richmond after this.